About the PMA

Alliance Mission Statement

The Platform Modernization Alliance is a web-community designed to support five objectives:

To provide a community where members can collaborate in order to make Application and Database migrations to the Microsoft Application Platform easier and more effective.

To help businesses learn about and choose the Microsoft Application Platform as the foundation of their business critical and mission critical applications.

To provide co-marketing, sales and support to partners and customers as they modernize existing non-Microsoft business critical and mission critical applications.

To provide a central point for publishing Platform Modernization related information, and developing discussions around Platform Modernization and Application and Database Migration topics.

Companies interested in knowing more about the Alliance or in exploring potential membership should send mail to pmaweb@microsoft.com with Platform Modernization Alliance Inquiry in the subject line.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is the Platform Modernization Alliance (PMA)?The Platform Modernization Alliance (PMA) is a group of companies that are working together to help customers migrate and modernize their non-Microsoft business critical and mission critical workloads to the Microsoft Application Platform. The companies that make up the Alliance share the goal of reducing the cost of business critical and mission critical applications in the enterprise. They share a common interest in making Platform Modernization and Application and Database Migrations easier and more efficient for customers.

Why have we formed the PMA?The Platform Modernization Alliance was formed to evolve and expand the Mainframe Migration Alliance (MMA) and the Microsoft Midrange Alliance Program (MAP.) This evolution and expansion to include UNIX and Database Migration is the direct result of the solution maturity and growing market demand for the Modernization and Migration of Enterprise Systems to the Microsoft Application Platform.

The PMA was also formed as a result of the growth in numbers of Modernization and Migrations partners and the maturity of the solutions available. The PMA was the answer to improve support for Microsoft partners and to provide a single source of alignment to Microsoft's Application and Database Migration efforts and our Enterprise Platform Modernization Team.

Migrating workloads off mainframe, midrange and UNIX servers to Windows Server and SQL Server has been going on for years. With significant pressure in most organizations to free up the large maintenance budgets that older platforms consume, the interest to migrate and modernize to a Microsoft Application Platform is more widespread than ever.

Targeting the value that the Microsoft Application Platform brings to Enterprises, the Alliance offers customers the information they need to achieve the reliability, availability and serviceability they demand for their business critical and mission critical applications. The end result is a much greater organizational capability, significantly lower IT costs, and a clear modernization path to the cloud.

The Platform Modernization Alliance provides a community and focal point for the collection and dissemination of information for Platform Modernization and Application and Database Migrations off mainframe, midrange and UNIX servers to the Microsoft Application Platform. We think this will deliver high value to enterprise customers.

How does my organization join the PMA?To join the PMA, a company needs to execute an NDA and membership agreement with Microsoft. To initiate this process, please send an email to pmaweb@microsoft.com or click on the "Join" link above.

What is a mainframe server?While there is no firm definition of a mainframe, the vast majority of large legacy systems currently deployed are IBM System z servers or IBM plug-compatible systems running MVS, DOS, VSE, OS/390 or z/OS.

What is a midrange server?While there is no firm definition of a midrange server, the vast majority of systems that carry this designation are currently deployed as IBM AS/400's or System i servers, or HP3000 server, DEC/VAX or OpenVMS servers.

The PMA specifically does not get involved with:

Standards setting

Certifications

Topics beyond migrating customers from mainframes

Directly creating, implementing or providing products or services to customers

Who can join the PMA?All members of the PMA have two things in common � their interests are aligned in helping customers modernize their applications and they have signed an NDA and the PMA or MMA agreement with Microsoft. Any organization that meets these criteria and is willing to agree to the terms of the agreement can join. All software, hardware and service companies are welcome. There are no fees to join and no annual dues.

Will there be any PMA-specific events?The Microsoft Platform Modernization Team has previously sponsored multiple events per year and this will now continue under the Platform Modernization Alliance. These may include but are not limited to the following: